I'm on the same page as AToE with my bottles, except I do make sure to sanitize before filling. I'm also lazy enough to wind up bottling mead in beer bottles most of the time. I prefer it in 12 oz doses anyways. Bottling with a helper is usually not too bad, but man, I never want to bottle a 10 gallon batch alone again.
Oooof...
- Thread starter wildoates
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I have a buddy who makes wine. He dives the recycle bin at Wal-mart and digs out the wine bottles. He de-labels them, Cleans and Sanatizes them and then sells them to the LHBS for credit for the supplies he needs. I buy a case from him for the same price that he sells them to the LHBS.
I think next time I am gonna use New bottles
Enjoy..
I think next time I am gonna use New bottles
Enjoy..
I bottle my mead in recycled beer bottles (1 litre, 500 cl and 330 cl) as I use crown caps to seal my bottles. To remove the labels I fill a large washbasin with hot water and a large dose of chlorine and let the bottles soak for a few hours. In general, the labels peel off easily. And I sanitise the bottles with iodophor, which saves me a lot of time.
Still, it is a lot of work. :tard:
Still, it is a lot of work. :tard:
Beer companies seem to use much easier to dislodge glue than wine companies, I guess it's more important for a wine bottle to look nice?
I'm thinking of just dipping all my bottles in black paint, right up to about 1 inch from the end of the neck. Then I cover up suck on glue (might do a few layers so it looks smoother) and get some extra protection from light.
I'm thinking of just dipping all my bottles in black paint, right up to about 1 inch from the end of the neck. Then I cover up suck on glue (might do a few layers so it looks smoother) and get some extra protection from light.
That's a great idea - until the paint starts to chip away. ;D
Actually I bring this up because of personal experience. A friend of mine gave me some cool looking frosted blue and red wine bottles (used, from some German winery). I thought, how cool is that? These would be perfect for some extra special mead gifts. Then I started to soak them to get the labels off, and along with the label paper came several chunks of blue and red frosted coating!
It looked like the stuff had been sprayed on to the bottle surface just before the wine went in, and the labels went on. Reusable? Not!
Actually I bring this up because of personal experience. A friend of mine gave me some cool looking frosted blue and red wine bottles (used, from some German winery). I thought, how cool is that? These would be perfect for some extra special mead gifts. Then I started to soak them to get the labels off, and along with the label paper came several chunks of blue and red frosted coating!
It looked like the stuff had been sprayed on to the bottle surface just before the wine went in, and the labels went on. Reusable? Not!
The thing I'd be afraid of with painted bottles is not being able to see if I've missed some scunge that needs to be scrubbed out...
I've considered using glass etching compound to decorate wine bottles but it's a lot of work and then the bottles are forever marked up... although "Return to AJ for refill" might be a sensible thing to apply
I've considered using glass etching compound to decorate wine bottles but it's a lot of work and then the bottles are forever marked up... although "Return to AJ for refill" might be a sensible thing to apply
"Return to AJ for refill" might be a sensible thing to apply
If returned for refill, does the same happy recipient get the full bottle back?
I'll pick wine bottles from the recycle bins put out during trash day or call around to the local wine stores and see when they are having a wine tasting. Once I have about a case I soak them in a mild bleach solution till the lables come off, give them a good scrubbing and rinse them with fresh water. The bottles get stored upside down in a case untill I'm ready to use them. Right before being filled They get washed out with some more bleach water, rinsed and allowed to drip dry. The local HBS is charging around $20.00 per case for .75 liter bottles which is getting expensive.
Often they will get A full bottle back, not likely to be the same one though... I don't drink a lot so I'm always happy to share with people who will partake.
My Terms & conditions of replacement of an empty bottle is Only if it is returned cleaned!
TB
Kegs
Most of mine ends up at places like beer club meetings, or on my own taps so that kegs work just fine. Otherwise I have a whole raft of flip top bottles and I just wash them and bottle what I need if I'm headed to a party. That just leaves gift bottles and I usually just give them away in Grolsh bottles (I'm lucky in that I have a pretty much endless supply).
At Christmas and for other special occasions I will bother to bottle in wine bottles with a good label. The last time was 118 bottles for my sisters wedding. I haven't recovered yet, so for now it is just kegs.
Most of mine ends up at places like beer club meetings, or on my own taps so that kegs work just fine. Otherwise I have a whole raft of flip top bottles and I just wash them and bottle what I need if I'm headed to a party. That just leaves gift bottles and I usually just give them away in Grolsh bottles (I'm lucky in that I have a pretty much endless supply).
At Christmas and for other special occasions I will bother to bottle in wine bottles with a good label. The last time was 118 bottles for my sisters wedding. I haven't recovered yet, so for now it is just kegs.
Yeah, I hear you on that one! I've done wine for two weddings and did half the bottling for another
Those are the only time I deviate from my Chateau Chevette Winery shipping label, I generally whip something up with photos, for my mother's wedding and mine we used different photos for the reds and whites... they look really sharp but they're hard on ink...You are so lucky to have an endless supply of Grolsch bottles!
I can normally get 1-2 bottles a night from the bar I work at, most of them are 1.5L bottles though.
That's a Great Size bottle...
I use those mostly for my wine making needs for home storage.
My usual yearly production is 30 gallons so the fewer bottles the better;D
TB
I love that size too, two of them is usually perfect for a gallon of JAO after losses for fruit etc.
I'd like to gather a bunch of 350s, but I seldom see them, so I use beer bottles for the single serving (for 2!) size.
350's is the one size I rarely get back, so most of the time I have to buy them, at least they come 20 to a case.
